Free Republic

HILLSBORO, Ore. -- John Shipley calls it the "weirdest, sickest case" he's ever investigated. The detective with the Washington County Sheriff's Office says a woman and three men put a 15-year-old Bethany girl through a course of sado-masochistic discipline that included rape. "In the back of our mind, we're concerned that these four individuals have done this to other children," Shipley told The Oregonian newspaper. "These four people are 'out there' in terms of responsibility and knowing how to treat children." Stephanie Lynn Leblanc-Porter, 38, and David Raymond Guy Davies, 44, are charged with rape, sodomy, sexual abuse, unlawful sexual...

CHICAGO - A woman in her 30s who is one of the four organ transplant patients infected with HIV and hepatitis was not told that the infected donor was high risk, and had previously rejected another donor "because of his lifestyle," her attorney said. Attorney Thomas Demetrio filed a petition Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court on behalf of the woman, asking officials to keep a hospital and an organ procurement center from destroying or altering any records involving the donation. "She's really a mess right now," Demetrio said of the Chicago-area woman. "She's still in shock." The patient, identified...

The two lovers are, in many ways, the perfect couple. They hold hands, hug and finish each others' sentences. They own their tidy, well-furnished house together, pay taxes, and are active in their neighborhood association. They've lived together for 11 years, and although they've always wanted to, they can't marry. It's against the law — Kent Kullby and Tim Smith are men. On Sept. 18 the Eugene City Council will consider a unanimous recommendation from the city's Human Rights Commission to give Kullby and Smith and other unmarried couples like them the next best thing to marriage, a domestic partner...